Nicknamed ‘Black Mamba’, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kobe is the son of former NBA player Joe Bryant and mother Pamela Cox Bryant. Kobe spent his early formative years in Italy, where his father moved to play professional basketball. Kobe actually started playing basketball at the age of 3, but basketball was not his first love to start with. Initially, Kobe was attracted towards soccer, with AC Milan being his favorite club and the clubs striker at that time ‘Frank Rijkaard’ was the player whom Kobe used to idolize.
Kobe currently plays for the ‘Los Angeles Lakers’ in the NBA and is a regular feature of the United States Men’s Basketball team. Infact, he was a very crucial member of the Olympic gold medal winning men’s team of 2008. At the age of 17, Kobe was only the second player to opt for going to the NBA directly upon graduation. Kobe was considered to have an exceptional tuning with another Lakers legend, Shaquille O Neal, and the combination of the two led Lakers to a lot of famous title wins. Since the retirement of Shaquille from the game after the year 2003 – 04, Kobe has assumed the responsibility of leading the team and is a very important cog in their playing strategy.
Kobe has to his credit the award of ‘Most Valuable Player’ for the season 2007 – 08 and has scored the second most number of points which are scored in a single game. He had scored 81which are only second to 100 points in game achieved by Wilt Chamberlain. Bryant also holds the distinction of scoring 50 points or more, in four successive games in the year 2007. In the 2008 – 09 opening season, Kobe led the Lakers to a record seven wins in a row.
Kobe Bryant has also been a member of the United States Men’s Basketball national team since the year 2006. Bryant is termed as one of the most complete players in the history of the game and has had the distinction of being selected in every All-NBA team since the year 1999. Kobe who has often been referred to as one of the most prolific scorers in the games history, is supposed to have the best all round player profile amongst all the other players. He is attributed with amazing ball handling skills, using his agility to his advantage of getting rid of the opposition’s defenders to make a basket. Apart from being one of the most prolific players of the game, Kobe, is also supposed to be an exceptional defender making to the all defensive first and second team eight out of the last nine seasons of the game.
Kobe has had a number of endorsement deals with major brands like Adidas, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Spalding, Nutella and Nintendo. In the year 2003, Kobe was arrested in connection with investigation of charges of sexual assault. The accusations were made by a 19 year old hotel employee who accused Kobe of raping her in the hotel room. The incident tarnished Kobe’s image and most of the companies who had signed endorsement deals with him; either backed off from their deals or stopped projecting him as their brands ambassador. In the year 2004, the charges were dropped against Kobe as the complaintee refused to testify the trial.
